not a lot to say

Wow, I haven't posted in a month. I started this post but didn't finish it. 

Doing better

 After last week of being so stressed out and not doing remote learning (aka homeschool) for Maddox well, and not doing work well, this week has been better, although with different worries.  We decided, for my sanity, and so that Maddox and I don't end every day in tears, that he would go to the Boys and Girls Club every day to do remote learning there.  He has two people in his room to help with the school work for 8 kids, and while that isn't as good as one on one, at least their job is to help, and they aren't trying to do a job while helping.  So that has made my life easier at home during the day.  

BUT Maddox has a learning disability and his stuff for his IEP (Individualized Education Plan) isn't set up yet, plus I worry he's missing stuff because there isn't a person standing right there with him all the time helping him getting into his meetings.  Plus, he doesn't want to go, and every night he is upset because he can't stay with me.  

I think I'm overthinking it.  I'm not sleeping very well.  Yesterday I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep because I was thinking too much.  This is a relatively new (in my life of almost 44 years) thing, when I get too stressed, I can't sleep.  It happened in 2014 as well when I lost my job and we had to move and couldn't afford life.  I slept a few hours every night and felt awful all the time.  Last night I slept pretty good, so that was nice.

I did cut back on my drinking.  I didn't quit completely, but cut back, and I am okay with it.  I feel good that I am not drinking crazily still.  I am also doing an extra exercise 3 or four times a week.  I actually haven't kept track of how many times.  I know I didn't do it Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of this week.  I did today and yesterday.  I was going to say I did 3 times last week, but I might have done 4.  It's kind of a combination of some yoga poses and some butt and ab workouts with pushups.  It's not much, about 20 min at a time.  But it's something.  

I'm also eating very well within my calories.  I weighed myself today and from the first of the month I am down a little over 2 lbs, and a little over 1 lb from last Friday.  When you say it "out loud" it "sounds" like so little.  2.2 lbs isn't much.  1.2 lbs is less. And it sucks.  But it's better than staying where I was or going up.  

I was keeping track of my weight on my bathroom mirror, but a few months ago I decided it looked terrible, and if people used that bathroom (it's the one in my bedroom, but still, if the main one is in use, people use it) than they can see my weight.  So I wrote all down in a notebook and am keeping track there now.  I was looking at it today and realized I have not been lower than 153 all of 2020, and I'd say my average is 155.  That's terrible.

I guess I'll keep trekking onward.

Stressed

 Well, I did yoga for 2 days.  And I enjoyed it, but my head always says that it's too much time.  So what if I can run for over an hour? 20 min is a long time . . . so of course I can't do 20 min of yoga!  So silly.  

I will tell you what I did instead, I'm working on cutting back on my drinking.  It is no secret that I love wine.  But my daily glass or two started being a whole bottle.  And then I was noticing that I was finishing the bottle and wasn't done, so I would have a vodka soda, or open another bottle.  Seriously, one night I had 2 bottles of wine.  That is not healthy.  It is very, very unhealthy.  

This started when everything shut down.  Suddenly I was at home all the time (still am) and 3pm would roll around and I'd be ready for a glass of wine (I don't get off work until 4:30, but who would know?)  Well, when you start early and you drink until you go to bed, then you drink more.  Plus, I joined a facebook page called Lushy Wino and while I love this group and I've never interacted more in a group than I do with this one (even my own running page), it definitely normalizes drinking a lot, and makes me feel like I should have another glass.  

So last week I decided to cut back, and I mean not drink at all.  I did end up drinking on Wednesday because I had a hair appt and I always drink wine with my hairdresser.  I also drank on Friday, because. . . well, Friday.  So I guess I drank 2 out of 5 days I wasn't going to.  But that is significantly less than I had been.  Anyway, I will be continuing this.  I think it's important to cut back, and I don't need to be drinking so much ever.  Plus, it's bad for my weight.  😉

I am running one mile a day, usually on my treadmill.  I did run 3 miles a week ago on Sunday, and again on Thursday, and my ankle seemed to be doing great.  I also added some walking in the evening because I miss getting out for my run, so I did that . . . huh . . . well, after looking, I only did it on Monday and Tuesday, I thought I had done it more.  Anyway, it still bothers me some, but not like it was at the beginning of August.  However, I went for a 3 mile walk with my sister on Saturday and on Sunday and again today it's bothering me more.  So much so that I did not run 3 miles yesterday like I planned, only 1 mile.  

School for Maddox starts on Wednesday and I'm stressing out a little.  I will be working from home (mostly, I do go to my office occasionally), going to school for myself, and "teaching" home school (which isn't really teaching, but making sure Maddox stays on track).  I'm the slightest bit stressed . . .

The worst part about being so stressed out, is that I can't go for a run.  That has been my stress reliever for 8 years now.  And I miss it.

To challenge or not to challenge

I ran today for 3 miles and it didn't feel awful.  Actually, I enjoyed it, other than the drama that I have going on with my family that happened in the middle of my run, but it went well.  My foot doesn't hurt more than it did this morning before my run, so that's good.  I did take some Aleve this morning, so the test might be once it wears off.  

I don't do challenges.  I don't follow through with them.  But I want to do something for the next 5 days.  Five days doesn't seem to be very long.  But I'm trying to decide what, and I want to start tomorrow.  😳  I want to either do 5 days of yoga, or 5 days of a different kind of exercise (not running, although I would keep my one mile a day streak going).  I think 5 days of yoga would be good, 30 min a day, it's no different than running at least 3 miles for 5 days (which has been my norm).  

I definitely am not going to run more than one mile 5 days a week.  But a few times a week if my ankle feels okay in the morning, and never two days in a row.  

My ankle is the biggest reason why I'm thinking yoga for 5 days in a row instead of something harder.

Vacation 2020

  Last week we went on vacation on a Lake in eastern WA.  (I capitalize Lake because that is how I grew up saying it, "the Lake," "we're going to the Lake," "how was your trip to the Lake?" it is Deer Lake, near Spokane, WA.)  We have been going to "the Lake" for five years now.  I don't remember why we decided to start going, prior to 2015 it felt like we weren't wanted because of one of my aunts.  That year, I thought the house was going to be cluttered and terrible, but Chris really wanted to go.  We usually went camping on San Juan Island for a week, maybe that year we didn't have a lot of money, I don't really remember, but we went.  And we LOVED it.  It was a little cluttered (hello, family of hoarders) but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  That year we actually wished that we had more time there.  

Last year we were only able to go for a long weekend.  We went on Labor Day weekend because our normal week there, the first or second week in August, we were on a cruise to Alaska (remember when that was a thing, and we didn't have to worry about it?)  Well, this year we've officially been there 3 times this summer.  We went in May, right before Chris went back to work after being furloughed for 2 1/2 months.  Then we went again in June when our camping trip got canceled because everything is closed.  It was a great week.  I forgot how much I loved the Lake while it's quiet.  Last year we were there on Labor Day, an automatic busy weekend, and the year before we were there on the 4th of July, another busy time, and the whole week was busy.  We never really saw the same amount of people, which I was surprised about on the weekend.

The first evening we were there.

My first morning in my favorite spot

Maddox and his friend, who came with us, built an island on the beach.

Diving off the dock.

Sunsets there are always beautiful (unless you can't see it).

Paddleboarding

My Dad came up for a day

The next day my sister came with her son and our niece. 

My last sunset for the week.  :-(

A group picture right before we left.

We really are very lucky to have this house to go to every year, especially this year while things are so crazy.  My oldest son, Damian, was supposed to come as well with his son, but sadly the house wasn't done with it's construction/facelift, and taking a 10 month old to a house with plywood floors and debris everywhere, just isn't a good idea.  I was pretty bummed they couldn't join us this time.  Maybe next year . . .

Still running

I was going to write about our trip last week but I'm not able to get my photos to upload, so I'll try again tomorrow or Friday.  😊

Before we went on vacation my ankle started bothering me a lot.  It started on the arch of my foot, moved to the outside, and then settled in the inside of my ankle, although occasionally it still bothers me in the other two spots as well.  I talked about it in my last post, but I decided to only run one mile, and go back to my old shoes (I bought new ones, but didn't get them before my vacation).  While on vacation I decided to get a Ace bandage, and wrapped my ankle for the entire morning, including during my morning run.  It bothered me A LOT on vacation while I was running, but since I've been home I've been running on my treadmill, only one mile, with my new shoes (they finally came), while wrapped, and I've noticed it doesn't hurt nearly as bad.  At least not while I am not running.  (Yesterday it hurt more than it has this whole time during my run, but I think it was because I used a different wrap and wrapped too tight. Today it didn't hurt that much and I ran for almost 2 miles.)

The reason I ran 2 miles today?  Well, I didn't know my new Garmin would want to calibrate a treadmill run.  My last Garmin didn't do that, so when I was done with my first treadmill run with my new Garmin it asked to calibrate, and I didn't know what it was doing.  Well, I hit that I ran 2 miles instead of 1, and I couldn't get it to go back to 1 mile.  I thought, oh well, it can't be that big of a deal.  Well, then yesterday, my 1 mile run on the treadmill registered as only a half mile on my Garmin, so I looked up how to recalibrate it.  The answer was I had to run at least a mile and it would give me the option to calibrate again.  But because I had set it to register 1 mile as a half mile, I had to run 2 miles in order to get it to read 1 mile.  So today I decided even if I had to walk, I was going to go 2 miles so I could recalibrate it.  I actually ended up running less than 2 miles because I pumped my arm for a while because I was worried about my ankle.  

It worked out okay . . . so I'm happy to get it configured correctly, and it didn't bother my ankle more than my one mile runs have.  Which I'm very happy about.  I've now run 16 days of "only" one mile (well, other than today).  But I can say that my run streak is intact.  I am on day 658 days, which means I'm 73 days away from 2 years.

Procrastination and conflict avoidance runs in the family

I've had a pain in my foot and ankle for a couple weeks.  It started as a pain in my arch on my right foot, which I attributed to plantar faciits, however, I didn't do anything about it.  But it has moved, it was on the outside of my ankle and has now settled to the inside of my ankle.  I also have noticed that I have a little bit of swelling on the inside of my ankle.  I've been sorta ignoring it (I know, super unhealthy to do), but I'm at day 642 of my runstreak.  Two years is just around the corner, only 89 days left to go, and I really want to get there.  I'm afraid if I go to a dr. they will tell me I have to stop running for awhile, which is probably a good idea, but 89 days!  

It bothers me most at the beginning of my run, and then I get in the groove and forget about it until I get home.  I've been taking ibuprofen and have been rubbing CBD oil on it (that really seems to help) that I got for my arthritic hip (that sounds like I'm ancient).  I should start icing it regularly.  I've done it some, but not very often.  I haven't been doing any crazy distances.  My longest runs have been 6 miles lately, but most of them are 3 miles.  

Shut up and Run posted (for the first time since December, I've missed her) about some ankle pain she had recently and she self-diagnosed herself with peroneal tendonitis.  I read a little (very little) about it and it said that it can be more common in people who sprained their ankle and didn't let it heal properly.  Guess who sprained her right ankle and was in denial about it a few years ago?  

We are supposed to go back to the Lake next week.  This is our normally scheduled trip, the last 2 trips there this summer were sort of spur of the moment.  But the house isn't done.  Remember I told you that they are renovating (really just fixing the leak that happened, but having to replace almost everything downstairs because it's so old you can't find the stuff needed to make it look the same).  Well, they have been very lackadaisical about working on the house.  

My dad hired them in February.  Everything shut down in March, but then reopened (well construction did) in May.  Their original deadline was July 4th.  I don't think they were even in the house before July 4th.  We were there at the beginning of June and again two weeks ago (I just realized I didn't post about that). 

*back in time* 

We went to the Lake again in July.  We were supposed to go camping, but the campground only opened at 50% capacity and because we were in campsite 13 and 12 and 14 were open, 13 was not.  We had already asked for the time off, so we went to the Lake again for 4 days.  It was a really nice trip.  

When we got there, they had put sheetrock up, and there was a guy doing the mudding.  But it was the first round of mudding, and he didn't come back while we were there.  I walked away on Monday knowing the house wouldn't be done in time for our August trip. 

*Back to the future*

I talked to my Dad yesterday, who was there last Thursday and he said they look to be done with the mudding, and ready to paint, but nothing else has been done.  He had given them a second deadline of August 1st, but obviously they didn't make it.  He's pretty unhappy with them, but is such a conflict avoider that he doesn't do anything about it.  They are supposed to replace all of the downstairs floor, completely redo one bathroom (the one with the leak) and replace a shower stall in the small (only usable) bathroom.  It's not going to be done by this Saturday.  😌

I don't know if we'll be able to go.  Chris and I are pretty sure we want to, but if they tear out the small bathroom shower, and don't immediately replace it, we won't have anywhere to use the toilet.  I'm pretty frustrated by it, and at my Dad too.  If he was more forceful it would be done by now. 

As it is, Damian definitely can't come with Asher because there is no flooring, just plywood.  A 10 month old on plywood is not good.  

Random thoughts

I just realized I haven't posted since July 8, and that was just my short post about Katie from RunsforCookies commenting on my last post.  And guess what, she commented again.  😀  

Anyway, I have not been doing much lately.  I have thought about posting, but just haven't had anything to say.  I'm running.  Every day.  Today was day 640.  On Thursday I had to go to my office, so I got up early to run because I don't like running in the heat.  I was only doing a mile and my toe hit a curb and I fell.  It hurt, and I scraped up my hand pretty badly.  It hurts quite a lot just typing this.  

I also scraped my knee, but didn't realize it had broken the skin until I was home and blood was seeping through my leggings.  I'm glad I didn't rip them, as they are newish and I like them a lot.  

What else has been happening?  Well, my intermittent fasting didn't last (I could have sworn I typed a post about this).  I was doing okay on it, but I didn't like waiting until 11 to eat on days that I run in the morning . . . and every day this last week I ran before 11 because it's so warm out right now.  I had decided to not do the intermittent fasting on the weekend so that I could eat before I run, but now I want to run in the morning every day.  I did very well with losing weight on the fasting, but since I stopped, I haven't lost any weight.  

Hmm, I'm very lost on what to write about today.  Maybe I'll browse through my pictures and see what's been going on in my life. . . 

I got a hammock chair.  It's so comfortable, but it's also very warm on my front porch in the evening.  I sat in it almost all morning today, well, when I wasn't running and then shopping.  I did find some interesting pictures on my phone when I was just looking at them.  😆

My pool is finally up and running.  We got the replacement filter pump, and I'm so glad I have it right now.  Although, I know the majority of the US has had much higher temperatures than I have, it's still warm to this acclimated Pacific Northwest girl.  

Yes, this is a flamingo cup holder.  It's brilliant.  

Celebrity Sighting

I know, I just posted yesterday, but I got on to look to see if anyone commented on my post from yesterday.  (I used to get email notifications, but now I don't and don't know how to get them back.)  Anyway, I didn't really expect a comment, but if I had one it would have been from MaryFran because she's the one most likely to comment on my posts.

I was surprised to see a comment that wasn't from MaryFran. 

Katie is the author of RunsforCookies that I talk about all the time.  I know, I know, she's not a celebrity, but I have been reading her blog for 8 years and I really feel like we are best friends . . . she just doesn't know it.  😆 

I completely believe her reading my post from yesterday was a one time thing, which is fine.  I just am excited that she commented.  How silly is that?  I believe she's normal and not a celebrity and would probably be uncomfortable with this whole post, but I really am surprised that she commented on my post.

Intermittent Fasting, sort of

I started a modified version of intermittent fasting a few weeks ago.  I can't remember exactly when I started, to be honest.  I'm pretty sure this is my fourth week.  It is, I just checked. 

I listen to true crime podcasts (and Watch What Crappens, about Bravo TV shows).  One of my favorites, that I've listened to since the very beginning (only a year and a half ago), is Housewives of True Crime.  They do a lot of gossiping and are very cliche "California girls."  But I enjoy them. I follow them on Facebook and they started another page for the keto diet.  I don't do keto, I have tried to stay low carb, and  have cut way back since they started this group.  But someone in the group said they were doing keto and intermittent fasting.  And then a friend of mine said he lost 10lbs from intermittent fasting, so I decided to try. 

I am very, very loose with my IF.  I wanted to do something that I could do without cheating.  So I am only fasting for 15 hours, instead of 16.  I choose to eat between 11am and 8pm, this is because of coffee and wine.  And believe me, waiting for my coffee is difficult.  I know black coffee is allowed, but I don't drink black coffee, I think it's gross.  I have not been perfect with my timing, either.  In fact, just this morning I ate my avocado at 10:50 and had my coffee.  And last night my last glass of wine was finished at 8:08pm. 

The first couple days I had a headache in the morning because of lack of caffeine, but even though I'm looking at the time from 10am on, I am no longer getting a headache.  I did discover that I cannot run before eating.  I ran one day at 10:30 and it was terrible.  With the hot days coming (remember western WA summers don't start until July 5th, and we had one day of warm weather and today it's cool again) I'm not sure if I will be able to avoid eating because I will need to run before it gets too warm.  I have been running most often at 11:30, time for my coffee to get in me and some food, but then I also run into (literally) the problem of having to use the bathroom.  Sometimes so bad I can't wait.

Last Thursday I had to brave the hospital because it's on my route and I couldn't go any farther without using the bathroom.  The lady that screened me was really nice, but I don't really want to go into the hospital if I don't have to, and I was worried she wouldn't let me go.  I would have had an accident, so I'm glad she was nice.

I have decided that Saturday and Sunday I will not be waiting until 11am to eat.  I did the first 2 weekends and it just doesn't work with my weekend schedule (shopping and running).  But I also figure that it will change things up so my body doesn't get too used to a certain routine.

I think IF is supposed to make it so you eat less, but I really don't think I am.  I still keep track of all my food and my calories are still pretty high.  I did lose 7lbs the first week and a half I started IF, but then I gained 3 lbs back, and then my weigh in this morning (which is not official) I was back down another pound.  So I've lost 5lbs in 4 weeks, which is actually better than I've done in a long time.  I'm going to continue with it for now and see where it goes.  It does help me to quit snacking in the evening, and quit drinking wine.  So that's good. 

I would like to lose another 10lbs before going on vacation in August.  That is only 4 weeks away, so I think that's not going to happen.  If I lost 5lbs I'd be happier, but it would be better to lose 10 . . . I think I have to do better at eating less during my 9 hours of eating.

So we did a thing . . .

I love the summer.  I love the sun and the warmth, and the tan lines.  😀 (I always put on sunscreen, but I still tan.)  I have put out a "kiddie" pool for as long as I've had a house to put one up in. 

 This is from my parent's house, but I couldn't find a pool picture from my house.  This is 2012, Maddox was 1. 😊  It's kind of an ironic picture because the pool that I grew up with was between where the kiddie pool is and the chicken coop.  My parents took it out when my youngest sister went to college.

 This is from 2013 at my old house.  We put the pool in an indent from a tree we dug out of the yard, which was rather perfect.

This is from 2015 at my current house, which you can't see much but me in.  😂

And last year I decided to buy a "real" pool.  We half-assed the leveling of the area, but I loved the pool.  

So this year when I started thinking about the process of leveling again, I really didn't want to have to do it every single year.  Our neighbors put in tile brick for their (big) pool a few years ago, so I decided we should do that . . . so that was my brilliant idea for this weekend.

We spent 10 1/2 hours on Saturday getting the material and putting it together. 

And we were 14 bricks short.  😡  So we had to go back on Sunday and get more bricks.

But it really looks fabulous!  I was so excited to put up the pool, which we did . . . and now our filter isn't working. 

I've never had a pool so level before! But I can't even swim in it, because the filter isn't working.

Chris and I are sore!  I had so many spots that were sore that I've never felt before.  Most notably my right first finger, which I thought was strange, and my elbows.  When we did the last 14 bricks on Sunday, the action of trying to set them in place was painful, I could barely lift the bricks up.  Definitely don't wait to finish projects till the next day . . . the pain sets in and it is hard to do!  My thighs are still really sore, which is strange because I was kneeling and wasn't moving my legs much.